


Sticks and Stones

by MerMagicAnaLily



Series: Love is Pain [1]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Angst, Homophobia, Hospital, M/M, Violence, yeah shit gets bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 07:23:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20560454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerMagicAnaLily/pseuds/MerMagicAnaLily
Summary: It started with a simple kiss between two people...the ending is still uncertain...but that middle....that awful middle.





	Sticks and Stones

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING - Let’s just say *almost* everything

-Something came up. Can’t make it today. Reschedule?- -I’m sorry!-

T.J. couldn’t go to with Cyrus to Buffy’s house. Not now. Right now, he just clutched his phone and prayed that he would be left alone for just a few more minutes, maybe a few more hours, maybe not...but he didn’t want to have Cyrus here. That’s for sure.

-Sure- A text came in from Cyrus. -Though you owe me extra popcorn next time.-

T.J. couldn’t help but smile a little even though everything hurt doing that. Cyrus always made him happy...but that was the problem in the first place, according to the Jackson High basketball and baseball teams.

* * *

_ It all technically started two weeks ago when Grant High hosted the game between them and Jackson for the first time. The Jackson Snakes were known for being one of the best teams out there, and everyone had turned up to watch it. It was T.J.’s first game as the Varsity team captain, and he was already pretty controversial for being just a junior rather than a senior like they usually were.  _

_ During halftime- the teams were neck and neck and they had fifteen minutes to get water, snacks, debate plays, and since they were only high schoolers, talk to people in the stands. T.J. was standing alongside the railings to the side of the bleachers, and Cyrus made his way over, holding out a muffin.  _

_ “Banana Blueberry, for energy,” he said, holding it out. T.J. smiled and took the muffin, breaking off a piece and handing it to Cyrus. “The muffin is for you.” _

_ “And someone like you taught me the value of sharing,” he teased lightly. “Besides, tastes better when we share it.” _

_ “I’m sure the taste is unchanged,” he said, but sat down and ate the piece. “So...I’m still pretty clueless in the world of sportsball, but I take it that they’re really good.” _

_ “Probably the best I’ve ever played,” T.J. said. “They’re making it tough. And some of these guys look like they came out of professional wrestling.” _

_ “Yeah...I thought those were chaperones for a good minute,” Cyrus said looking over at him. “You gonna be okay?” _

_ “Yeah, refs are everywhere to make sure the gameplay is clean, and afterwards, we’re all meeting at Andi’s right?” _

_ “Yup. She even graced us with her presence from SAVA,” he pointed her out to T.J., and she waved at him, along with all of their other friends. T.J. smiled and waved back.  _

_ “Honestly, after midterms and this game, I couldn’t ask for anything better than a group sleepover,” T.J. said. “Amber said she-“ _

_ “Already in the car,” Cyrus said. “Your clothes and the big blue sleeping bag that isn’t fooling anyone?” _

_ “I don’t know what you’re talking about, that’s Amber’s,” he said. “Mine’s the purple one.” _

_ “Really?” _

_ “Yeah, it’s much softer and fluffier,” he said. “But...I could be persuaded to zip both of our bags together, since we’re all sleeping on in one big pile in the living room anyways.” _

_ Cyrus laughed, a sound that T.J. could record and listen to for days on end. “I knew it, you big flirt.” _

_ “You’re here, aren’t you? You like my flirting, muffin.” _

_ “I love your flirting…Teddy.”  _

_ The two minute warning whistle rang out. Neither T.J. or Cyrus noticed the guys on the other team pointing at them and discussing them. T.J. took Cyrus’s hand and gave it a squeeze, before he ran off to join his team again for the game.  _

_ T.J. thought that Jackson might have been playing rougher, but he couldn’t really tell, and he just kept thinking up ways to win. T.J. wasn’t always the best student. He was good at English, great at history, and even passable at Spanish (though to be fair, Marty was the one who helped him out there a lot. Turns out the kid was fully fluent in four languages), but where he excelled at was sports theory. He could visualize the court layout in his head and even create some stats for the players, both his own and the opposing team. He knew exactly who should mix up with who, and where to position each person for their strengths.  _

_ It was a close game throughout the last two quarters, but Marty was able to miraculously sink a three pointer in the last second and brought their game to a win. Everyone started cheering and all the friends and family streamed onto the court and started congratulating the team. Jackson players were very interested in watching Cyrus’s interaction with the Grant team captain, and when they saw the two celebrating together, their suspicions were confirmed when the two kissed, and their scowls deepened. _

* * *

T.J. slowly got up, groaning in pain. He had gone to the girl’s game at Jackson to be an assistant coach of sorts for Buffy. Cyrus had a film project he had to do, and he and Marty had come separately in his car since they weren’t allowed on the team bus (team players only on the busses). He clutched his side and up the wall, stumbling to the back exit outside. 

* * *

_ “Alright Buffy, it’s okay that you guys didn’t win,” he said giving her a hug. “It’s just one game, and not even an important one.” _

_ “I know, T.J.,” she said. “It sucks because they broke our record, but honestly, I’m glad we held up so well against them. I swear they’ve got to be taking stuff.” _

_ “My guess is that Jackson County has something in the water,” he said. “The boy’s team is huge too.” They both laughed a little. “Speaking of water, Marty’ll meet you at the bus, I gotta find the bathrooms around here.” _

_ That was the worst mistake he made, but how could he have known? _

_ T.J. had just finished washing his hands and was about to walk out when the first thing he felt was a punch in the nose out of nowhere. He stumbled back to see the big guy in front of him. “Hey! What the hell was that for?” _

_ “You think we wouldn’t remember you?” He sneered. He had a few friends come up behind him. _

_ “Well, maybe? Considering I don’t remember you?” He said. “Who the hell are you?” _

_ “You humiliated us, faggot,” he said, and before T.J. could fully feel the sting of the word, he felt a knee in his gut, sending him to the floor. “You think it’s okay for a fruit to play with real boys?” He felt a kick to his gut.  _

_ “At least this fruit has integrity for a fair fight on the court,” he got out. The kiss on the court. That’s how they even knew he was gay in the first place. He prayed Marty would sneak onto the bus instead of wait for T.J. to come back so they could drive.  _

_ “You fucking freak,” One of them spat right on his face before punching him there repeatedly. “You can’t fucking do that in a place where real men are.” _

_ “Bet he used his fairy powers to make us lose,” another one said as he joined in, kicking T.J. Even if he thought he should fight back, there was no way now because one got behind him and held him up as they kept beating him.  _

_ “You should get out of here...out of this state,” one said.  _

_ “Fuck the state,” the first one said. “Leave this world. Just save the world your pathetic bullshit and just kill yourself.” _

* * *

He had debated going back to the bathroom to see the damage but thought it would be best to just get out. He’d stay out of school for a few days, maybe call in sick the day of the next away game they’d have against Jackson. He thought about warning Marty and letting Brandon Keller take over as captain for the night instead. They used the words “real boy,” so Marty might be in more danger than he was. T.J. was at least cis. 

Of course, no more than two seconds after he got through the back entrance he saw four guys standing with baseball bats. Fuck.

“Hey, you’re the captain at Grant, right?” One asked. “The one who also plays baseball.”

“Look,” T.J. tried to reason. “I’m just trying to go home…” he didn’t see the bat that hit the back of his leg sending him to the floor. 

“We don’t want any glitter on our diamond,” he said. 

“Funny...the most valuable diamonds are glittery,” he said, trying to get up but he lost count of how many punches, kicks, and hits he got. 

“Shame we don’t have any rope...could’ve gotten this shit done with sooner,” one laughed, but another took out a sharpie. 

“Maybe we should just make shit clear, for him to stay away,” one said and pulled out a sharpie and wrote something on his face. T.J. was too weak and out of it to try and fight back now, and all he could think about was how fucking glad he was that Cyrus couldn’t make it to the game. His vision was black around the edges and he was fading out, the pain was both too intense and he also couldn’t feel anything at all. 

“Kippen!” He could barely hear the familiar voice coming his way. First a normal voice just calling out, like this person was trying to find it then, “T.J.! Holy shit!” He barely saw Marty coming closer, but he heard him. 

“Marty...get out…not-ah! Not safe…” he groaned.

“Fuck...Teej…” He felt himself getting lifted, then the world went black.

* * *

Cyrus and Buffy were sitting on the floor of her living room, watching movies. What was supposed to be a double date was going to end up with Cyrus just third wheeling. Or at least it would be if Marty ever bothered to show up. 

“I’m sure T.J.’s family is just cornering him until he can slip away and walk over here,” Buffy said. “You know how much the Kippens love all of us.”

“Very true,” Cyrus said. “But we should call them. I mean, T.J. said that something came up…”

Before they could finish another thought, Marty was calling Buffy. 

“Hey babe, what’s taking you so long?”

“Buffy, do you have access to a car right now?”

“What?” Buffy frowned. Cyrus nudged her. 

“Put him on speaker,” he whispered and she nodded. 

“Marty, you’re on speaker with me and Cyrus.”

“Perfect one less call,” he said, and he was sounding desperate. There was a hum in the background. “Do you have access to a car?”

“Not mine, my mom had to use the family car to go out of town.I mean...I guess Bex and Bowie let us borrow their cars whenever.”

“Ask them for it now,” he said. “First, drive down to Jackson High and use the spare keys Cyrus has to take T.J.’s car out of there.” T.J. had given Cyrus the spare keys after the fourth time T.J. dropped his keys down the street drains and had to wait for his mom to come home from work to give him off the spare care. 

“You aren’t in his car?” Buffy asked. 

“Marty? Why isn’t T.J. driving?!” Cyrus was freaking out. 

“Because...I’m in an ambulance with him right now,” he said. “The car has our computers, please get it before those get looted too.”

“Wait, what?!” Cyrus started hyperventilating. “Why are you in an ambulance?!”

“Because...T.J. got jumped. He passed out when I grabbed him, and...there’s a lot of medical stuff being thrown around here, but it’s not pretty…” Marty looked like he was trying to breathe. “And Cyrus...you should...maybe…wear your gym clothes or something…”

“Why?!” He asked. “Why does what I wear to go pick up a car make a difference?! Where are you going?!”

“They’re radioing which one of the two closest hospitals has more room,” he said. “We’ll find out in a minute and I’ll tell you. And you should change because...you can’t look like yourself…”

“Why can’t I look like myself Marty?!” Cyrus was asking, his voice becoming as hard as steel. 

“Because of why they jumped him...one of them wrote...they wrote something on his cheek….”

His heart sunk. “What did they write?” He asked, already knowing the answer. 

** _“Die Faggot.”_ **

* * *

If Cyrus already thought Buffy’s driving used to be erratic, now, it was downright dangerous, not that he blamed her. He had taken one of the thousands of hoodies he stole from T.J. and put it up and put his glasses on when he got out of the car and found T.J.’s Jeep. He was about to get in when he saw that the windows were broken and horrible words were keyed in on the sides, but thankfully none of the stuff was stolen from the inside.

His hand shook slightly when he opened it and got in, driving away, not sure he wanted to see what T.J. looked like after seeing his car. But now he knew that he *had* to see him. Marty had called them on the way to the rival high school to tell them which hospital they were going to: St. Sebastian’s.

That was the first and last time Cyrus prayed to a Catholic saint along with his usual prayers as he drove. T.J. was raised Catholic, so maybe it would help? Who knows? All that he knew was that he just needed T.J. to be okay.

_______________

T.J. was passed out when Cyrus and Buffy arrived, hugging Marty right outside the room. “Do you know what happened?” She asked, Cyrus was still shaking.

“He mumbled basketball and baseball,” he said. “And the “faggot” on his face leaves little room for the imagination…”

“How would they…” Cyrus stopped. “We kissed the last game against them, didn’t we?” 

“You guys kiss every game,” Buffy said. 

“Not everywhere is like Shadyside…” Cyrus said, and Marty was looking down. 

“I don’t think I’ll play in the next game against them…” Marty said quietly. 

“What?! Marty, you can’t let them-“

“Buffy, he’s right,” Cyrus said. “Think about it. Me and T.J. sharing what was, at most, a two second kiss two weeks ago landed him in a hospital.”

“So? Marty is straight,” Buffy said. 

“And trans,” he said. “If I go...they might...they might actually kill me...they already threatened T.J. with death...I don’t know if it would stop at threats for me.”

“But if you don’t play,” Buffy said. “They win…”

“If I don’t play, I’ll still be around for the game after, and I’ll win that game,” he said. “Those guys are all huge...huge and homophobic are not good combinations for us.”

“Shadyside is...it’s a nice accepting community surrounded by people who think that we’re abominations against God and should be illegal to continue living,” Cyrus said. “It’s great that we live where we do, where we can be open...but outside of these little happy bubbles...it’s very dangerous.”

Buffy sighed and took his hand. “I guess…I really underestimate these things,” she said. “I thought that since...well...I think Jonah and I are the only cis-het people in our friend group...I thought I would have gotten this down by now…”

“It’s okay,” Cyrus said. “We didn’t really think about it either. Not until something like this happens, or whenever something happens on the news. T.J. and I have talked about if we go to another state for a game of his or for a trip or anything...we’ve talked about how to explain things...which places we would need to be in a hotel room with two beds...but around here, in our day to day lives, we just try to be happy, like any other couple.”

Marty nodded. “I always make sure I pass. I can’t slip up for a second sometimes. I can’t relax…I have to be careful that my binder or sports bras don’t show…”

Buffy was quiet. “If you don’t want to play...we’ll do a movie night instead...or a sleepover…”

Both boys nodded. “That...that might be best…” She looked at them both sadly and put her arms around them and hugged them tightly. 

A nurse came out of the room and she saw the three of them. “One at a time to see him. We already notified his mother over at St. Joan’s.” Cyrus nodded and looked at his friends. 

“His mom’s a nurse? I thought she was a piano teacher…” Buffy said. 

“In her spare time,” Marty said. “She’s a nurse most of the time.”

Buffy nodded understanding and looked at Cyrus. “Go ahead...we’ll wait out here.”

Cyrus took a deep breath before opening the door and going in.

* * *

He gasped when he saw T.J., who was slowly waking up. They had tried wiping off the writing on his cheek but some black smudges remained. His eye was swollen almost shut, his lip was split, and it was easier for Cyrus to count how many spots of T.J.’s skin he could see rather than how many bruises of varying shades and colors. He opened his good eye and smiled weakly. “Hey...underdog...you shouldn’t be here…”

“I should,” he said, trying not to cry, and failing. “Is this the ‘thing that came up’ and why you couldn’t meet me?”

“Well...that was round one...I didn’t know about round two….” 

“Round one?! Round two?!!!!” He wasn’t able to control himself. “Sorry...I’m sorry...I just...Please...tell me everything…”

“Underdog.”

“No...please...and...I’m gonna stay here until you’re out. And I mean out of the hospital.”

T.J. sighed, and saw Cyrus reach out and touch his hand, only careful not to squeeze on the bruises and bandages when he laced their fingers together. It lightened T.J.’s heart a little, that no matter what he went through, what happened to him, Cyrus was still there.

* * *

(Three weeks later)

T.J. was still hobbling around school, police reports filed and arrest warrants sent out. Court dates were the last things that were going to be set, but that was the last thing on his mind. His leg was still broken in two places and his ribs were still bruised, but now he was able to get around on crutches and not look like total death. Just a few remnants of cuts were still on him. 

Cyrus tried to get his schedule switched around to no avail, but T.J. felt nothing but loved and welcomed as he came back, reminding him how much he loved Shadyside and how much he loved Grant. But it was after gym that he realized how lucky he really was. 

“Need a ride?” He looked over to see Buffy behind the wheel of a golf cart. 

“Please tell me you didn’t,” he laughed a little, smiling. 

“I can’t let you win in the “doing great deeds” department,” she said. “Get in, this lunch detention better be worth it.” 

T.J. laughed and slid into the golf cart, watching her pull away and towards the school grounds, all the way to the door, even blocking one of them from opening should someone try. She got out and opened the door for him. “Hey Teej...you know...you used to be the worst...absolutely, the worst,” she said with a chuckle. “But now...we love you. Don’t forget that…No matter what people say...or tell you what you should do…”

“Driscoll...I would never...I like the life I’m living 95% of the time,” he said. “Don’t ever worry about me doing that.” 

She smiled. “Classic T.J.,” she said. “Reminding us why you’re secretly amazing.”

He smiled and went back to Cyrus who was waiting by his locker. “Okay, got your books already babe,” he said. “Ready to go home?”

“My had wanted to go to practice,” he chuckled. “But...since I’m going home early...can you remind me why...why people like the Jackson teams deserve to go to hell?”

“Teej?” 

“Can we go on a date? Dinner? Movie? Just...enjoy ourselves? And...reassure me…”

“Reassure you?”

“Yeah...that I would take these sorts of beatings ten times over if it meant that I could still love you.”

Cyrus teared up. “I love you too, but please...let’s do it without any beatings. Or let me take it next time.”

“Never…” he said. “Nobody will ever lay a finger on you as long as I’m still breathing.” God. T.J. hoped that was true, and he hoped he would never be proven wrong. But most of all, he wished he could guarantee his words.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this in a masochist, sadistic way. Please comment if you read this!!!!


End file.
